Sunday, January 24, 2010

Labor and Delivery part 2

Once in the room, I met our labor and delivery nurse whose name was Paula, she was such a sweet lady, couldn't have asked for a better nurse, she mentioned to me that I could slip into the hospital gown if I had wanted to now, ( I was in my own PJ gown up to this point)but i assured her I was not wanting to be clothed at this point I just wanted the Tub again. My doula and Paula drew up the warm water and I undressed. At this point I had my mother, Nick, the doula and Paula. They were all such a great team , couldn't have asked for anyone better. Once the water was ready I slipped into the tub and was there for a good three hours, words can not explain what the water did for me ladies, I swear by it, I was wrapped up in the towels that came out of the steamer for the upper part of my body and the lower part was submerged under water, I remember having me head tilted back on the blankets and my mom rubbing a cold cloth on my forehead and sipping ice cold water from the cup next to me. I got a lot of good rest in-between my contraction while in the tub, I believe they has slowed to about 4 and 1/2 minuted apart and were lasting about 60 seconds. I just remember feeling the best while in the tub, but then came the point of where we needed some more movement, Paula told me for every one position I was in on my back she wanted me in another position on the front or side, so it was time to get out of the water.

with help, I made it back to the bed where I sat backwards on my knees with my arms hanging over the back of the bed and I moved my hips in a circular motion. This position hurt, but I felt progression, and with the encouragement from my husband and the rest of the team I was able to stay in that position for a little while, just resting my head of the back of the bed, I can remember at times thinking is this really real? am I really feeling this? and then I would feel the cold drool coming out of my mouth onto the side of my face and I realized that yes it was real and I was coming in and out of this.

I believe it was at this time when I became very impressed with the memorial staff, I hadn't been offered a single drub, nor an IV, did they really read my birth plan, this was amazing. I was very grateful. it was so nice to be free from machines, cords, wires or be looped up on any medicine.

so like I mentioned before my whole time frame is off, I never once read the clock but I do remember asking what time it was throughout this process because the farther the hours stretched I knew my body had to be progressing. I ate some jello, graham crackers and drank lots of water and cranberry juice during my labor, nothing has ever tasted so good, I remember mom putting the graham cracker in my mouth and I would just close it and let it melt, any extra motion at times seemed so draining.

we did a few other positions, sat on the ball, laid on my side, got back in the tub, tried to walk out of the room ( nick wanted me to see the kitchen?!?!?! ) not sure why the kitchen but you gotta love him, I believe he just wanted me to have a specific goal of reaching but this was not possible, I got to the door, out into the hallway ( oh by the way I was back in my night gown at this point, not walking halls naked )We quickly turned back around and my doula suggested I get in bed and take a nap. My mom got a nice cot bet and fell asleep, nick lay next to me in a reclining chair and went to sleep and I was in the hospital bed wrapped in warm blankets on my side, the doula had gone down for some coffee and something to eat. I remember laying on my side and catching a glimpse of my sleeping husband and he looked so peaceful, I remember thinking he is going to be a wonderful father, and began to wonder what he was experiencing during all of this, he looked so tired, like he was getting good sleep. my contractions would kick in again and I would breath through them one at a time, and then drift off to sleep again. It felt like my doula was gone for a while because when she came back I said I really want to get into the water again, nick was still sleeping and so was mom, Paula was not in to room but I am not sure where she was.

Doula ran the water and I got in, i remember it was very warm but it felt so good to me, a few moments later Paula returned, and saw I was in the tub and checked the temp and said wow this water it way to warm, we need to check babies heart beat, so I was quickly checked, and told that I needed to get out of the water ASAP. I got out and made my way back to the bed, I am not sure what the temp of the water was or what babies heart beat was at this moment but I know that it made paula very nervous, and after I had been laying on the bed for a while and we still had no change, she brought it two large ice packs and placed them around my belly. I began to worry a little, what had I done, Paula listened to the heart beat again and then told me to pay back as she put the breathing mask on my face, at this moment I was so scared, to have an oxygen max on my face and I knew that it had now been a good 30 minuted I had been out of the tub and still no change. I began praying and shortly I was able to have the oxygen mask off and we worked through some more contractions out of the water.

during this time we had learned that the reason the water got so hot was there was some sort of water bust, and the pipes all got messed up through out the whole hospital, they ran some water again to check it and it looked rusted... OH NO I thought, was I not going to be able to have the water birth I had wanted to badly?!!?that was the one place I felt the most comfortable, was I going to be able to do this drug free now? all of this was running though my head while my body took each contraction one at a time.

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Lil O'L Me

My name is Chelssie and I am 28 years old. I have 2 little girls who call me mommy and one loving husband. I am extremely passionate about health and fitness, which has led me to start this blog. My family and I live here in Indiana and we own CrossFit 061 Although I currently work full time outside of the gym it is my intent to transition into doing something that I love and wanted to invite you along to be a part of this journey. So let me start by saying welcome to my blog. Here you will find my everyday thoughts, rants and recipes, so visit often and bring your Coffee with you!